nghê

See also: nghe, nghé, nghề, and nghệ

Vietnamese

Etymology

Contracted from Chinese 狻猊 (Toan Nghê), one of the 龍生九子 (Long sinh cửu tử, “Nine sons of the dragon”)

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ŋe˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ŋej˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ŋej˧˧]

Noun

(classifier con) nghê (猊)

1. a creature that has the traits of a dog and a lion, serves as a guardian of temples, similar to a Chinese guardian lion